Bear's First Christmas

By Robert Kinerk and Jim LaMarche

We have another Christmas tradition at our house (I started this after hearing a story on NPR about a family who did something similar)--We have a box of Christmas books that we get out every year just after Thanksgiving. All other times of year, these books are packed away in order to keep them special and fresh. I try to add a few new ones each year (usually during post-Christmas sales at bookstores...). We read a few (or a lot) of these books each day between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. It is a calm and cozy way to enjoy the season, and a great way to help kids form positive associations with reading.
I borrowed this book from the library last year and liked it so much we borrowed it again this year. (Hurray for libraries, by the way!) I love the illustrations--well, most of them. One of my two gripes with the book is that I think LaMarche goes to too much trouble in a few instances to make it look like the bear is smiling. What I like best about the other illustrations in the book is that the animals actually look like animals (aside from the bear's silly smile), and yet somehow still convey feeling. I also really like the font--I don't know if the artist had any influence there, but it goes nicely with the illustrations. My other annoyance with the story is that one of the characters--a small tree--is used rather heavy-handedly in a metaphor that strikes me as a bit trite...but I forgive this (and the bear's smiles) in light of the books many other strengths.
The story teaches the crux of Christ's teachings--"love one another." A bear is awoken from hibernation in mid-winter by a sound. He goes of in search of its source and is able to render many acts of service for his fellow creatures along the way. The animals then continue together until they discover a warm, lighted house wherein a family is singing around a Christmas tree. In an interesting nod to reality, the animals do not exactly understand what they are seeing. The house is described as "A lair or a burrow all lit by a glow." But, while the beasts do not comprehend all they observe, they do perceive its import--perhaps an excellent metaphor for our own experience in this life and in our search for meaning and truth?
All together, this is a charming book--very inviting illustrations, a somewhat fresh take on Christmas, and a very well-wrought rhyme and meter which flows very nicely and sets a fine tone for the story.